…and that was me trying to be nice about it!

When I say the title I was hoping for a picture of Nicole Kidman!

Martin – Through our previous conversations on the forum I think the whole process with the training schools must have changed immeasurably since I trained. Under the old CAA system there were effectively 3 ways you obtained a frozen ATPL. The first way was to enrol at one of the colleges for a course lasting about 14 months which would take you from complete ab initio to frozen ATPL with about 250 hours. This was the format followed by almost all of the airline sponsorships. The second way was for people with PPL’s and a small number of hours; once they had 200 hours they could go to one of the colleges and do the ground exams and a ‘brush up’ course whcih also left you with a frozen ATPL and about 250 hours. The third way (the way I did it) was called the ‘self improver route’ whereby if you had a PPL and at least 700 hours you just had to sit the ground exams, Commercial General Flight Test and the Instrument Rating ona light twin and you were given a frozen ATPL but you had the advantage of being seen by the airlines as much more experienced.
To go to a school such as OATS did not involve any selection process as you describe happening these days. You simply paid your dosh and waited for your start date but unless you were sponsored there was absolutely no guarantee of a job at the end. Is there so much demand for the places at OATS these days that you now have to interview and be selected in order to pay them for a course with no guaranteed job? If so, it’s a much tougher world than the one I trained in.

All the best Martin and if there’s anything we can do to help please ask.

Ren – Tim Jeans is a former Ryanair big wig who is now a MyTravel big wig.

I think the courses are something like 50-70 grand at the mo. Martin EGTK is much more clued up about the current training requirements than I am. Can you help Martin?

GZYL – As above, TCAS lateral separation is still yet to come. There are 3 stages to a TCAS ‘event’.

Under normal circumstances traffic in the vicinity will show on the screen as a white hollow diamond. The diamond will be supplied with additional information showing whether the other aircraft is above or below you (within 2700 feet) and whether it is climbing or descending.

The first stage of a potential conflict is for the white diamond to become filled in. This has no aural message accompanying it but the other traffic is then referred to as being ‘proximate’.

If the proximate traffic gets within 50 seconds of a collision the diamond will turn amber and a warning aural would sound saying ‘TRAFFIC, TRAFFIC’. We call this situation a TA or Traffic Advisory and if visual we would leave the automatics engaged but start looking for the other traffic. If not visual we would continue monitoring the situation on TCAS.

If the other aircraft gets within 30 seconds we now have an urgent situation called an RA or resolution Advisory requiring manually flown avoiding action in accordance with the TCAS instructions overiding ATC. The screen display shows the RA traffic as a red diamond and the aural is relevant to the required flight path, eg ‘CLIMB, CLIMB’, etc. At present all avoidance is in the vertical plane and I believe the system can cope with something like 8+ aircraft converging at once. Theoretically only one aircraft needs to take avoiding action to avoid a conflict. The system talks to the other aircraft involved to ensure that the guidance for all involved aircraft takes them in opposite directions. What you don’t need is to have someone (as in this case) deliberately go the other way!

Regards
wys